Hafeez, Rashid help Lahore Qalandars beat Peshawar Zalmi by 4 wickets in PSL match
Mohammad Hafeez (2nd R) and Rashid Khan (3rd R) shake hands with Peshawar Zalmi players at the National Stadium in Karachi on Sunday. AP
Gulf Today Report
A disciplined bowling effort from the Lahore Qalandars bowlers restricted the Peshawar Zalmi side to a below-par score of 140 runs which was chased down by a collective effort from the batting unit resulting in a four-wicket victory for the Qalandars at the National Stadium in Karachi on Sunday.
Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi and Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan spurred Lahore Qalandars to a four-wicket win over Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Sunday.
Afridi bagged 3-14 and Rashid didn’t concede a boundary in his impressive PSL debut figures of 0-14 as Peshawar were restricted to 140-6.
Helped by Mohammad Hafeez and Rashid Khan's splendid knocks, Qalandars successfully chased the 141-run target set by Zalmi with nine balls to spare.
Rashid’s belligerent unbeaten 27 off 15 balls that included a winning six over midwicket helped Lahore cruise to 146-6 in 18.3 overs to give last year’s finalists a winning start.
"I call that shot the mini-helicopter, just try to go for it,” said Rashid, who will be playing in just one more PSL game before joining Afghanistan for its series against Zimbabwe.
"The best thing is to finish it off with the bat and I got an opportunity today,” he said.
The Qalandars started off strong after Fakhar Zaman and Sohail Akhtar opened their innings, before Akhtar (14 off 14) was caught by Shoaib Malik off Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman in the fifth over.
Zaman followed him in the next over, getting caught superbly by Malik off Wahab Riaz after making 15 from as many balls.
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Agha Salman (21 off 16) then hit three boundaries and a few singles before he was bowled out by Amad Butt. He was replaced by Ben Dunk, who contributed 22 runs before falling victim to a Wahab Riaz yorker.
As Hafeez stayed firm, the Qalandars lost both Samit Patel and David Wiese to Saqib Mehmood in two consecutive balls. While Hafeez finished the game unbeaten at 33 off 26, it was Rashid (27 from 15) who completed the run chase for the Qalandars in style with a six on 18.3 overs.
Earlier, after being sent in to bat, Zalmi finished with a score of 140 at the loss of six wickets. Imamul Haq and Kamran Akmal opened the innings for Zalmi. Imam was sent to the pavilion right after, getting caught out by Ben Dunk off Man of the Match Shaheen Shah Afridi's first ball of the match.
Imam was replaced by Shoaib Malik. The Peshawar franchise lost their second wicket when Kamran tried to flick a boundary, only for it to land straight in the hands of the perfectly positioned fielder.
Haider, who replaced Kamran on the pitch, got out on his first ball as well, caught by Dunk off Salman Mirza's ball. Malik lost his wicket in the eighth over, caught out by Dunk.
Ravi Bopara (34 off 33) and Sherfane Rutherford (24 off 21) then stabilised their side's innings, putting runs onto the scoreboard through to the 15th over.
Their partnership ended in the 17th over, however, with Rutherford getting caught by Agha Salman off Afridi's bowling after having contributed 26 runs from 27 balls.
Bopara persevered for another two overs before getting caught simply by Rashid Khan, again on a ball by Afridi. He remained the top scorer for Zalmi, having made 50 off 44 balls.
Amad Butt contributed a vital 23 runs from 11 balls not out in the last three overs, including a six on the innings' last ball, to enable his side's fighting total.
